


Cisco, Interrupted

by wayward_winter_soldier



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen Fucks Up the Timeline, Cisco Ramon Needs A Hug, Cisco Ramon Whump, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Gaslighting, Gen, Hurt Cisco Ramon, I don't know, Kidnapping, Medical Torture, Medical Trauma, Mental Institutions, Non-Consensual Bondage, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Non-Consensual Electroconvulsive Therapy, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Psychological Torture, Torture, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS FIC, alternative universe, hippocratic oath has been broken
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:46:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29786664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_winter_soldier/pseuds/wayward_winter_soldier
Summary: Cisco ends up in a mental hospital with no memory of what he did to end up there, only that apparently everything he thought was true about his life was all a lie. No one will believe him so it's up to him to figure out what's going on and how to escape from the dangers that lie within the asylum.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Cisco, Interrupted

**Author's Note:**

> hello! okay, so i've had this idea for a while, so I've decided to start writing it, despite the fact that i currently have three on-going fics already. sorry! and obviously the title is ripped off from the movie girl, interrupted but like, it's a great movie so fight me?  
> i hope you enjoy this, though! probably will be a shorter chaptered fic, maybe about 2-4 chapters or so.

> “Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.”
> 
> _\- Girl, Interrupted (1999)_

* * *

Cisco didn't like the socks they had given him to wear. Well, in all honesty, he hated everything that they had given him to wear, but the socks were definitely what had set him over the edge. They were a royal blue, which wasn't the problem, with small rubber grips on the bottom to make sure the wearer didn't slip and fall and potentially hurt themselves. Cisco hated socks with rubber grips. There wasn't really a reason for it, he just greatly disliked them. He had already tried taking them off, but a small nurse who had come in to check on him shook her head at him as if he were a misbehaving child and told him he would have to keep his socks on. She had even put them back on him herself, which was embarrassing. Maybe she didn't trust him to even put his own socks on, which was a weird thought for anyone to have.

The rest of Cisco's clothing was less annoying to him than the socks with the anti-slip grips had been; a plain white T-shirt and a pair of scrub pants. Like something someone might wear in a mental hospital.

Which was apparently where he currently was.

Cisco had no idea how he had ended up in the psych ward. He couldn't remember, which the doctor who had come around to give him a check-up had said is perfectly normal. Except forgetting things like that were not normal and Cisco knew it. How the hell had he ended up in this situation? 

He wished they would have let him use the phone so he could have called his friends. What if they knew what had happened? Or what if they were looking for him? Would they even think to check a place like this? Cisco doubted it. 

He had also tried to use his powers when he was left alone in the plain white room, the heavy metal door locked tightly to keep him from wandering off. He couldn't open a Breach, which he didn't understand. Why would there be Meta dampeners in a mental hospital? That made no sense.

Unless this wasn't just a mental hospital. 

It was something else entirely.

* * *

Cisco clicked the light off in his workshop, whistling softly as he did. He was- as usual- the last one to be leaving S.T.A.R. Labs for the night. Harry was probably somewhere in the building, but Cisco never knew where he went to spend his time. He believed the man did it on purpose so Cisco wouldn't bother him, though Cisco wasn't sure how he could possibly bother Harry.

The young engineer made his way to one of the old S.T.A.R. Labs vans. He usually took one home if it was already too late for the buses to still be running, which it was. It wasn't like anyone cared anyway, so he twirled the key around his finger as he made his way over, his mind still focused on his current project.

He unlocked the driver's side door and got in, starting the car and switching the radio to a classic rock channel to keep him awake on his way home. A David Bowie song blasted through the speakers and Cisco turned it up a bit, putting the van into drive and pulling out.

When he got to his apartment, he went straight to bed.

Nothing strange happened. 

Or did it?

* * *

Food was delivered to Cisco but he wasn't hungry, just confused and a tad bit stressed out.

"You need to eat," the nurse who had put his socks on him said, the tray of gross hospital food in her hands.

"What am I doing here?"

She sighed deeply, though it almost seemed fake. "Oh, the doctor was worried this would happen."

"What would happen?"

The nurse looked to be considering his question for a moment before she set the food tray on the end table next to Cisco's bed. She gave Cisco a kind yet sad look like she pitied him. Like a look a teacher might give to a kid when they were about to deliver bad news. 

"You've been with us for four years, Francisco. You've been doing so well, but you must have regressed in your healing. I really thought you were getting better, too."

What the hell was she talking about? There was no way he had been in a mental hospital for four years! He would have remembered something like that surely. 

"That's impossible," Cisco replied, though he wasn't sure if he was talking to the nurse or himself.

"Ever since the particle accelerator went off, you've been here. After it failed your mental health became worse and worse. You started having hallucinations, thinking you could see the future. You called them 'Vibes'. You also seemed to think some people were what you called 'Meta-humans' and that they had superpowers from the particle accelerator. Your family had you put here for your own good."

No, this wasn't right. There were Meta-humans, and he really did have Vibes! This was all wrong.

"No, I _am_ Vibe. And there _are_ Metas."

The nurse just sadly shook her head in response. "I guess we'll have to up your meds after all. I was afraid of this."

Before Cisco could even ask the nurse another question, she had turned to leave, the door locking behind her and leaving Cisco alone with his thoughts. None of this could be real. This had to be a dream or maybe a hallucination from a Meta. Yeah, he bet there was a Meta out there that could put him in a false reality. Music Meister! This could be his doing! None of this was real. It couldn't be. All he had to do was wait for Team Flash to rescue him. They would, there was no doubt. They would just have to try and get him out as they had for Barry and Kara. Cisco wasn't sure how they would go about doing it without him, but they were smart. They would figure it out.

Cisco looked over warily at his tray of food but made no effort to eat. He didn't think he'd be able to at a time like this. 

The door was being unlocked once more. Cisco looked over in confusion. Hadn't the nurse just left? Why would she be coming back so soon?

It wasn't the nurse, though, Cisco noted as a woman in a white doctor's coat entered, a sweet but condescending smile on her face.

"Caitlin?"

Caitlin Snow looked over towards Cisco, the sickly sweet smile still present. "Good afternoon, Francisco. How are we today?"

"Caitlin, you found me! I dunno what happened, I just woke up here."

The nurse was behind Caitlin, a concerned look on her face. "He's regressing, I'm afraid."

"What're you talking about? Caitlin, let's go back to S.T.A.R. Labs!"

A sigh escaped the doctor as she walked closer to where Cisco sat on the terribly uncomfortable hospital bed. "Francisco, we've told you this many times. S.T.A.R. Labs has been closed since the particle accelerator failed."

"Well, yeah," Cisco admitted. "But it's still open for Team Flash business. What's up with you, Caitlin?"

"Francisco, I've asked you to call me Dr. Snow, please."

Cisco narrowed his eyes at his supposed friend. He was beginning not to trust her. "We work together."

Caitlin shook her head sadly. "No, Francisco, we never worked together, not at S.T.A.R. Labs, not anywhere. You were making such good progress, what happened?"

It was a rhetorical question. Cisco ran a hand through his hair. This could just be the Music Meister at work. Barry had mentioned that they were all in his delusion. Cisco had remembered not believing one bit that in the musical world he was trapped in Cisco was a singing waiter named Pablo. Now he was starting to believe it a bit more.

"I'm going to have to up your medication."

He saw the syringe and immediately knew he wouldn't want to be injected with it. He moved away, trying his best to not let Caitlin grab him.

"Nurse, orderlies, please!" Caitlin said exasperated, struggling to get a good grip on Cisco just by herself. Before Cisco had even noticed it, two very buff men filed into the room and shoved Cisco down on the bed, grabbing the leather restraints attached to the bed frame that Cisco hadn't noticed at first. They cuffed Cisco by his wrists and ankles, making it impossible to reject Caitlin's needle.

"Please, this is for your own good. We want you to get better."

The needle was inserted into the crook of Cisco's arm. He could feel the drug begin to rush through his body as his eyes grew heavy and he felt himself falling asleep.

* * *

Barry Allen had made a horrible mistake. 

It had been late at night when the Meta alert went off. He hadn't wanted to bother anyone so he quickly changed and raced over to the scene of the crime. The Meta he ran into, though, was a lot faster than Barry had been expecting them to be. No, they didn't have super speed, but they did have the power to teleport, which was what led Barry to run terribly fast to catch the Meta. So fast that he must have gone back in time.

He didn't know when he was. All he knew was that he had to leave immediately as to not disturb the timeline. However, somehow the Meta he had been desperate to catch had followed his through to the past.

"Hey, Flash," they said, a smirk on their face.

"We have to leave, okay?"

"Why? Seems rather nice here. Maybe I'll stay a little longer."

"No, okay, you don't understand-"

"Catch me if you can, Speedy!"

Thus led to Barry running all around whenever in time he was, trying to catch the Meta (who he had dubbed Portal since Cisco wasn't there to come up with a name). Barry wished he had just called someone. He had thought this whole mission would be a cakewalk, but he was way over his head. Portal seemed to be having a great time robbing jewelry stores and banks and Barry prayed they wouldn't kill anyone. That would definitely disturb the timeline.

After a few hours, Barry caught Portal, but the damage was done. If he was to change it all back, he would have to first drop Portal off in the present, then figure out what had gone wrong. 

This was going to be a long day, he thought bitterly.

* * *

He had been right, of course.

The timeline was in ruins and he knew it the moment he arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs to find it abandoned. The Meta cells they had set up didn't even exist. He wasn't sure how t proceed, but luckily the Meta had the dampening cuffs on, so he found a spare storage room and locked them in, ignoring their protests as he began to try and figure everything out.

No S.T.A.R. Labs, then, he noted as he made his way to the Cortex. There were sheets over everything and all the technology was switched off. Barry took a peek into Caitlin's lab. The same dusty sheets. Even Cisco's lab was abandoned, he noted as he walked down the hall, only stopping to retrieve some spare S.T.A.R. Labs logoed clothing to change into. 

He would have to find a computer and look up his friends, see where they were in this timeline.

Barry sped away to Joe's house, hoping nothing had happened to prevent him from meeting Joe and Iris. He knocked on the door, his heart beating nervously in his chest. Barry only had to wait for a moment before Joe answered.

"Hey, Barr, come on in."

Barry smiled, slipping into the house. At least Joe was still here, he thought as he made his way into the living room, glad to see nothing had changed about the interior of the house.

"What's going on, you off work today?"

"Oh, yeah," Barry replied, not knowing what else to say.

"Damn, didn't know Mercury Labs gave anyone time off."

So Barry worked for Mercury Labs in this timeline, not the CCPD. Good to know. 

"Oh, well, you know how it is."

"Definitely. Want a drink?"

"Just a water," Barry answered, taking a seat on the couch as Joe disappeared to the kitchen.

"Iris should be off soon," Joe called from the kitchen, the sound of water rushing out of the faucet present. "They just had another robbery, so she has to work overtime. The life of a detective, don't I know it."

Iris is a detective. Okay, so a couple of jobs were changed and S.T.A.R. Labs was closed down. Noted.

Joe reemerged from the kitchen, two cups of water in his hands. He passed one to Barry before taking a seat on the chair across from the couch. "Nice clothes. I didn't know you had S.T.A.R. Labs stuff."

"Oh!" Barry looked down at his clothes. "Laundry day."

Joe nodded. "I was supposed to do it today on my day off, but you know me. The captain doesn't get many days off, I gotta enjoy them."

Barry smiled in response. So Joe was the captain, Iris was a detective, and Barry worked at Mercury Labs.

"Can I use your computer? Mine's in the shop."

"Sure, it's over in the corner charging."

Barry thanked him and went to the laptop, hoping to find out where the rest of Team Flash was and just how much damage was done to the timeline.


End file.
